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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26115982">takin' care of yourself ain't a crime</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orangecrane/pseuds/orangecrane'>orangecrane</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Era, Illness, M/M, One Shot, Pre-Relationship, Sorry if this is OOC, Specs and Al only make a brief appearance but they both talk, Specs is responsible and a good friend, for now at least...</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 07:33:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,096</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26115982</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orangecrane/pseuds/orangecrane</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Jack has been pushing himself and Davey's kinda sick of it</p>
<p>---<br/>Davey opens the door gently, “Jackie, you in here?”</p>
<p>“Oh Dave! What’re you doin’ here?” Jack asks before quickly glancing back at the sleeping kid on the bed next to him and lowering his voice, “I thought you’d be wit’ the rest of the boys.”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>David Jacobs/Jack Kelly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>takin' care of yourself ain't a crime</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was a request from anonymous so I hope it lives up to expectations. Also this is barely edited and my first time writing in present tense so sorry for any errors.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hey, does anyone know where Jack is?” Davey asks as he and Les make their way into Jacobi’s, “I haven’t seen him since distribution and I need to talk to him about something important.”</p>
<p>“Nah, ain’t seen him, sorry Davey.” Albert responds, unconcerned. He turns back to Race, resuming their conversation as if Davey had never spoken. A few other boys scattered around the room chime in with similar answers and Les goes to sit at a table with Specs, Romeo, and Finch.</p>
<p>“He’s probably back at the lodging house checking on Pine, they haven’t been feeling well for a few days now, he’ll probably be done in time for evening distribution.” Specs provides helpfully. Davey is so grateful that at least someone here knew what was going on. Though it is concerning that he hadn't heard about one of the littles being sick before this.</p>
<p>“Ok I’m gonna go check on the both of them then, thank you Specs.”</p>
<p>“No problem Davey.” Specs says with a smile.</p>
<p>“Oh and Les, make sure you stick with one of the older newsies while I’m away.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah I’ll be good.” Les responds.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry Davey,” Specs says, “We’ll keep an eye on him.” Davey shoots Specs a grateful look before heading to the lodging house.</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>As Davey approached the lodging house his worries started getting the better of him. Why wouldn’t Jack just tell him he was here? What did that have to do with them not selling together today? What if Specs was wrong and Jack wasn’t here, then what would he do? His mind only grew louder and louder as he opened the door, thoughts echoing around his head. As he made his way inside he asked Mr. Kloppman “Is Jack here?”</p>
<p>“Yeah kid, he’s just upstairs, go on ahead.” Davey smiles nervously and moves towards the rooms, at least Jack was actually in the lodging house. What Davey still couldn’t figure out was if Jack is here checking on one of the littles, why didn’t he just tell him? He thought Jack would’ve trusted him with something like this, even if he didn’t need help.</p>
<p>Davey opens the door gently, “Jackie, you in here?”</p>
<p>“Oh Dave! What’re you doin’ here?” Jack asks before quickly glancing back at the sleeping kid on the bed next to him and lowering his voice, “I thought you’d be wit’ the rest of the boys.”</p>
<p>“Yeah well I came to check on you when you didn’t show up at Jacobi’s, have you been here since you finished selling?” Davey’s concerned. Jack looks exhausted, he’d brushed it off as him still being a little asleep this morning but if anything he looked even worse now. Though, now that he could see them, Pine looked even worse, no wonder Jack wanted to check on them. “Oh, is that why you wanted to sell alone today, so you could finish up faster and come here?”</p>
<p>“Uh yeah, to both questions, but Davey, you should be back with the boys. I’ve got things here under control.” Jack looks back over to Pine and runs his hand through their hair. They whine and pull away from his touch, but don’t open their eyes. Davey’s concern for the kid keeps growing but he focuses on Jack right now.</p>
<p>“Havin’ things under control doesn’t mean a little help will hurt Jackie. Besides, you aren’t looking to hot yourself, maybe you should lie down for a bit and I can watch Pine.” Davey says. He sits by Jack and takes his hand.</p>
<p>“N- no Davey,” Jack shakes his head and pulls his hand away, “I don’t need help and you don’t need to be gettin’ sick. If you get sick then it’ll just be Les supportin’ your family and I ain’t gonna let that happen, they need you out there workin’.”</p>
<p>“And what about you Jackie, if another newsie was in your condition I severely doubt that you’d let them sell, so why are you still tryin’ to push yourself?”</p>
<p>“Because Davey!” Jack raises his voice. Pine whimpers and shifts away from the sudden outburst and Jack looks almost ashamed. He repeats, quietly “Because Davey, if I can’t watch out for them without your help then how am I gonna do it when you’re not here? They need me to look out for them, they all do, and if I’m sick then I can’t do my job and I’ll let them all down!”</p>
<p>“Jack Kelly don’t you dare martyr yourself. Do you think that when the other newsies come to you for help they’re somehow failing or letting you down?”</p>
<p>“Wha- Of course not! But Davey that’s completely diff-”</p>
<p>“No Jack, it really isn’t. Taking care of yourself isn’t a crime, and don’t you ever think less of yourself for needing help. You aren’t letting anyone down by taking care of yourself or leaning on others. Now if you aren’t in that bunk and resting in the next thirty seconds I’ll put you there myself.” Davey says firmly. Jack hesitates. “If you don’t start movin’ I’m gonna start counting Jackie boy.”</p>
<p>“Okay okay, I heard ya Davey, I’ll take a nap while you watch Pine for a bit. Don’t need to start countin’ on me.” Jack says lightheartedly and moves to lie down in one of the nearby beds. Davey watches until he’s settled and his eyes are closed, then takes Jack’s place by Pine’s head. If their condition didn’t improve soon they might have to scrape together the money for a doctor, but for now he hoped that this would be enough.</p>
<p>“Hey, Davey…” Jack whispers. Davey hums in response. “Thanks for lookin’ out for us, for me… I know I can be difficult to put up with an’ it really means a lot.” Jack cracks his eyes open to look at him. He’s rewarded with Davey’s smile, the soft affectionate one he rarely gives to anyone outside his family, and Jack feels warm inside.</p>
<p>“Of course Jackie, but right now there’s no place I’d rather be.” Jack closes his eyes once again and falls asleep quickly. Looks like Davey had been right about him being tired. He’d have to wake Jack up again for evening distribution, but for now the boy could get some much needed rest. The ability to watch the rise and fall of Jack’s chest as he breathes allows Davey to relax for the first time since this morning, he hadn’t even realized how wound up he was.</p>
<p>Oh well, looks like confessing to Jack would have to wait for another day.</p>
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